Pam Roach Recounts Chile In Wake Of Earthquake

Santiago, Chile has one of the best inter city train systems in the world. It is supported by an armada of cabs that take riders into the burbs to the very humble homes all barred with wrought ironed windows. The rich live on the hillsides in mansions.

I took son Dan with me to pick up my daughter as she was leaving her 1 1/2 year L.D.S. mission. Together we spent 10 days in the country, staying in the homes of the people and traveling to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. We took a 30's vintage train to Puerta Montt and then luxury bused it back to Santiago for home.

So in the dusty curtained sleeper car there was one toilet. I was a little surprised...it was a squat hole with the tracks speeding underneath!

This Saturday, driving home after session, I listened to a talk account of the earthquake. The announcer had never been there and stated, "The damage won't be much because of one thing: rebar!" Well... this country is 400 years old. We are seeing the results just now because much of this country is poor and rural.

Santiago is a mix with old cathedrals and edifices built over a 350 year span. At the D/T McDonalds the restrooms look just like the ones here except for the basket next to the toilet. NO PAPER goes down the sewer. Throughout the city and into the neighborhoods...the sewer system cannot take the paper. Fragile and old...what do we think this earthquake means to the underground infrastructure? The city was built on top of the old systems.

The earthquake was centered near Concepcion. Sanitary conditions will be offset for years. Chile, in a structural sense, is a house built on sand.

Washington State businesses have invested in Chile. Trillium (based in Bellingham, WA) has trees growing all over the hillsides. U.S. tree growers invested in other countries when the enviros here decided trees were not a renewable resource.

Troutlodge has a large facility in Puerto Montt. We travelled south to see the fish farm but lost contact with the manager. We taxied into the countryside to see a competitor's operation. I loved Chile. I loved the people there.

I have never had food poisoning so bad as after the tostado with piled high avocado. (Dan was out too. My daughter was used to the food bugs I guess.) I have never had a more exciting ride than the small bus careening down the curving hillsides of Vina del Mar, and I have never had a more heart felt conversation in Spanish than when Pedro(17) told me at the airport that he didn't want my sweet blond-haired daughter to leave...he had a crush on her.

The length of Chile is like Seattle to San Diego...twice!

Public Funding Of Campaigns...The Price Of A Vote For The Budget

Hidden deep in the recesses of the 2010 Washington State budget is a piece of failed legislation that requires publicly funded State Supreme Court races. The bill is now "referenced in the budget." That means the budget cannot be passed without this bill so..even though the billed died on the Senate floor last week...it must be voted on and passed to implement the budget.

SB----( I will fill in the number tomorrow...don't have it with me right now), was heard in the Senate Governmental Operations and Elections Committee of which I am the ranking member. Public funding of ANY elections has been a hot button issue championed by Sen. Erik Omig who is also on the committee. His bill was the last one out of executive session. Sen. Craig Pridmore was late and not present for most of the ex session. The bill was brought up last so he could have time to arrive for the vote. He threw his coat on, took his seat, and the bill passed out of committee on a party line vote.

When the bill came up for a vote in the full Senate...it was challenged as being improperly before the body. Why? Because there was a tax involved. I-960 had not yet been repealed. The President, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, ruled that the bill was, in fact, a tax and so the bill was put down.

In order to pass a budget you need a majority of the 49 votes. So, $200,000 was added to the budget for public financing of Supreme Court races...the bill was referenced in the budget...and now it could be brought up again. Since I-960 has now been repealed the fact of a tax does not matter any more.

This is a terrible bill. It was not even heard in the House (as though that would matter to the majority) and you won't find a negative statement about it in the floor calendar which many legislators read before they vote on a bill.

Justice Richard Sanders wrote the Gov. Ops Committee members an articulate letter siting problems with the bill. None of that information found its way into the floor calendar. Very convenient actually, and shows how bills are manipulated by the Democrat majority. Just don't mention anything bad and hopefully no one will see it!

The bill is unconstitutional....but won't be found as such in time for this year's Supreme Court races which the left wants to manipulate.

Dems Doomed As Special Session Looms...

Citizen Taxpayers rallied against the repeal of taxpayer protections and the imposition of tax increases. These are the voters who will not forget.

The Senate Dems came up with the votes and sent the operating budget to the House with the minimum 25 votes. The Democrats have so many members that six of them were "let off" the vote. No Democrat in a swing district up for election this year wanted to vote for the budget!

I don't know if TVW showed the hand gestures going on between Senators Chris Marr (D) Spokane and Claudia Kaufmann (D) Kent.

"You!"..."Me?" "No you!"..."You will be the 25th Yes vote! Not me!"

The Senate had their votes but the House is in disarray. It is harder to buy out twice the amount in the House as needed in the Senate. Part of the interest here is figuring out what some of them got for their vote!

It is likely that there will be a special session. NO ONE wants this! The Democrats MUST write a balanced budget because unlike the nearly bankrupt California, Washington's Constitution allows no debt.

We could be called back into special session by the governor the very next day. Unlikely.

We could go into a rolling recess...coming in every third day.

We could wait for the call...the sign that an agreement between the two houses and the governor has been reached. Then we would all be notified to return for the vote. (This is the wisest and least expensive for taxpayers. It costs a lot of money to be in session even for a day.)

This may be the first written prediction....

Message To Colorado: Have The State Patrol Monitor State Abuse Of Children

Note: The State of Washington already has an ombudsman. She is over worked, has no power, and nothing comes of her well done reports. We have a slightly higher kill rate of children than Colorado (pop. 5 million).

MONITORING CHILD WELFARE

Colorado Lawmakers unveil bill to create an independent investigator of the system
Peter Marcus, DDN Staff Writer
Friday, February 26, 2010

Following the deaths of 35 children over the past three years who “slipped through the cracks” of the state’s child protection system, lawmakers yesterday unveiled a bill that would create an independent investigator to address weaknesses in the system.

At a news conference yesterday, Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, unveiled her Senate Bill 171, the Child Protection Ombudsman Bill. The measure would create an independent “advocate” to help protect children and provide accountability of the child welfare system.

“How many children have to die before we take action?” asked Newell. “Today, we need to make a stand for those who are too young to stand up for themselves.”

It remains unclear exactly how the program would be run, either directly through the Department of Human Services, or through a nonprofit. Karen Beye, director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, said those details will be worked out by lawmakers as they debate the bill.

Necessary?
But supporters of the legislation, including Gov. Bill Ritter, say the move is necessary to fix the broken system. (Hi, Bill...FYI...This isn't working at all for WA.)

“This legislation will provide transparency, consistency, accountability and ongoing input for Colorado’s child welfare system and help us improve critical services for Colorado’s most vulnerable children,” said Ritter. (NO...it won't)

The proposal stems from one of 29 recommendations made by the Child Welfare Action Committee, which was formed in April 2008 by an executive order from the governor. The committee met for 18 months before making its recommendations. (It took almost two years!!!)

Several recommendations are already being implemented, including the Child Welfare Training Academy, (licensed and bonded state workers???) a differential response program that allows stakeholders to skip the court process,(do away with all parental rights????) and beefed-up response to mandatory reporters, to name a few.

HIGH PROFILE CASES

Several high-profile cases raised caution flags over the past three years.

One case was 3-year-old Neveah Gallegos, who was suffocated, placed in a garbage bag... (I WILL SPARE US ALL THE ALL TOO FAMILIAR DETAILS)..... Critics said it was unacceptable that the case slipped past the welfare system’s radar, especially considering the mother’s boyfriend was a registered sex offender, and that little Neveah had been treated at an emergency room for vaginal bleeding. (THAT I had to leave in!)

Seven-year-old Chandler Grafner was another child... He weighed only 34 pounds when he was found dead. (Colorado..we have you beat..we found a 14 year-old weighing only 47 pounds!) Grafner's biological parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against child-welfare .... claiming the Department of Human Services failed to adequately investigate the foster parents... There were even reports at the time that surfaced from Grafner’s school indicating abuse.

OMBUDSMAN'S DUTIES: STOP SUCH TRAGEDIES FROM OCCURRING

Ritter said the purpose of the ombudsman would be to really stop such tragedies from occurring.

.... The ombudsman’s office would be charged with reviewing complaints, making recommendations and filing an annual report concerning improvements to the system. An aspect of community outreach and education would also be tied to the job. (WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BET THEY ARE USING WA LAW AS A MODEL??)

While the ombudsman would be independent of state departments, the program would be an independent component of the Department of Human Services. (That has accomplished nothing here. Without any power their is no consequence to lies and circumvention of the law...using loopholes and never changing how things are done.)

Supporters point out that 29 other states have created a similar program.(And how has that been working for them?)
Newell says rather than play the blame game, it’s time for lawmakers and state departments to take action. (I suppose a little grandstanding does put a few more people to sleep and give cover to those who need it.)“For years there has been finger pointing from and to all parties: the state; the counties; the advocates; the providers; and it is finally time to put down our fingers and join hands and band together for the solution to help children, to stop the blame game and come together to be part of the solution in protecting kids,” she said. (And now in song: "God Bless America...Land of the Free...Stand beside them...or hide them...kids will die...in the hands...of the state.)


Gotta go...so many taxes to vote "NO" on today. :o)

Political Incorrectness And Being Political...Tim Eyman

How many out there in the WA State audience think that Tim Eyman's initiatives would make it to the ballot or get voted in as law if Tim was a mild mannered, quiet, politically correct, boring guy?

Now think about this before you answer. Remember that while the signature gathering phase of his initiative campaigns are funded...the campaign for passage is not. It is the force of one man's personality...the drive, the tenacity...the ability to NOT GIVE IN...that, coupled with the populist content of the measures, pushes his initiatives forward.

(This little treatise is because someone didn't like the use of the word "evil".)

Tim is hard to avoid. His actions demand attention. Yesterday afternoon he showed up for the governor's signing of the repeal of the initiative passed by the people... the "Taxpayers Protection Act" or the provisions of I-960. In front of God and the press (some think there is little difference), Eyman, alone, walked up and stood by the governor as she read the card in front of her and then signed the bill. Eyman stuck right by her side as she began to answers questions from the press corps (sounds like K-OR). There he stood!!!! I can't believe he did this! Totally, totally, incorrect.

Apparently, he was waiting for his pen and a picture. The governor eventually offered him a pen and he reached in the box to get a couple more. He had a few friends who had spent $700,000 dollars and 300 days in passing I-960 and they, as well, were hoping to have a little memento as I-960 was signed away. Seems like the funeral was well covered with all that press and Eyman peering over the governor's shoulder.

This man is totally politically incorrect. He is outrageous! He is rude with a smile. Did he even HAVE a mother???

Yet he is successful. He calls things like they are. Or, if you prefer, as he sees things.

Martin Luther King...Mahatma Gandhi...political incorrectness is in the eye of the beholder. Our world is a better place because of people who do not mind walking the road. Using the word "evil" is a necessity if you are going to make change. If you don't believe there is evil...and say it...you will never have what it takes to make change in the face of overwhelming odds and without funding.

"Without money, you cannot slay a dragon unless you are politically incorrect!" Pam Roach

There Are Only Three Ways To Save Our Kids...And The Legislature Is Not One Of Them

It is certainly clear by now that trying to correct the CPS system, bill by bill, is not the solution to keeping kids alive and families intact in WA State.

As SB 6416 left the Senate there was language regarding "presumption for placement" that was aimed at reinforcing WA State current law... families come first in dependency placements. There were members of the House committee that didn't like that part... so at my suggestion and to keep the bill alive it was removed.

As this was happening and with the Stuths following this from the back of the room...Rep. Goodman wanted to give "equality" to the foster providers and had the votes to amended the bill to include fosters to have a say in court if they had had the child for 12 months. The Goodman suggestion was language taken straight from the foster lobby. I believe the committee meant to add them but not only them. David Davilar Fox thinks the language may have been written improperly and the outcome is actually different that what was intended. It is currently being researched.

All this was done very quickly and I appreciated the chair's willingness to work to get the bill out of committee. The deadline for getting bills out of the House committee was just an hour from the executive session where the voting took place. Do not worry that there may be some technical difficulties with the way the bill came together. Do not worry about this as Senator Hargrove and Rep. Kagi and several others will adjust details as needed to make sure the wording complies with the intent of the legislature. There is plenty of time.

In reality the legislature can not work fast enough to fix a system such a troubled system as DSHS/CPS. It is too big for the legislature to micro manage. WE NEED LEADERSHIP! This must come from one or more of the statewide elected officials, or the initiative process, or the State Supreme Court.

The State Supreme Court Is The Only Hope For Justice

I have to rush to a hearing...but I will expand on this thought at my next visit here. Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders wrote the majority opinion last month in a case that will make changes in the way CPS has been wrongly taking children.